I know the ed board has been discussing (complaining) about what purpose the Photo Op serves. I have an answer courtesy of my friend (and my friend's friend. But I didn't actually talk to him, that was word of mouth.)
I told my friend that the Photo Op will still be on the Opinions page after we're all dead and buried. My good friend who has a brilliant mind said, "Do you want to know why you have a Photo Op? I'll tell you why. I went out with the guys from class last night and our waitress was really hot. Then, today in class, S. passed around the Opinions page and said, 'Did you guys see this? Does anything catch your eye? Anything look familiar?' and a picture of our waitress was on the bottom of the page."
Oh that's not all! (As if that wasn't reason enough to keep Photo Op.)
It turns out that S was smitten with said waitress/photo op victim. Now, when they go back to the bar, he can say, "Hey, you know what I did one time? I [whatever the hell her photo op answer was] and it was great!" and she'll say, "Oh my God! I did that, too! That is so awesome! What are the chances? We're both hot, and we both had the exact same experience! It's like destiny!"
They'll totally hit it off, and later, when he tells her that he passed her photo op answer off as an original thought just to meet her, she'll fall in love. By that time, stalking her photo op won't be weird at all b/c it'll be a charming story to tell their Grandkids.
So, you see? (Since dialogue translates so well to blog-print, I'm sure you understand how cool this is.) The editorial board photo op provides a service. You're like the Chuck Woolery of the Opinions Page! You're cupid.com without the .com. Way to go, ed board!
One more thing. That same day you brought so much joy to a bunch of guys by putting this girl's picture in the paper, Jon printed one of my blog entries on the very same page; right in the center; above the photo op. (it takes up a fair amount of space.) No one even noticed that I had something published in there. They passed it around to a group of guys who knew me, knew I was a columnist for a DI, one of the guys is my actually my best friend, and nobody glanced high enough on the page to notice my name.
It turns out, a familiar face on the Opinions page is sometimes the best part of the entire paper.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
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5 comments:
No offense to your friend, Kathleen, but I could give a flaming shit.
I don't plan on it, but if I ever take that editors job (NOT next semester) I WILL make that one of my priorities, and from the sounds of the conversation today per Erik, Jason, Emilee, and on and on, there's a strong possibility that Photo Op is going gonzo soon.
A few months ago, I thought about a daily one or two graph interview with someone in/around Iowa City, asking them random questions, getting a feel for who they are/what they do (the girl at the parking ramp, the bartender at the Airliner, the janitor at the IMU). It'd be local, it'd be personal, but a lot of work, and not always interesting.
If people want to read that kind of drivel (photo op) they should read the comics or People magazine. I don't like po, it's irrelevant, it's boring, it's pointless.
Okay, I realize that you guys hate Photo Op with every fiber of your being, but it was just a fun story. Your answer was unnecessarily hostile.
The guys I mention in the blog had fun with it. Even if you meant no offense - you did insult my friends, which was really dumb b/c they could totally kick your ass.
You're also insulting anyone who likes photo op for whatever reason. I realize it sucks to do it and it apparently infected Jon with some sort of virus, but it is kinda' cool for people to see someone they know in the paper. All the better if they're saying something stupid, or if it's a hot waitress.
It burns ussss!
I'm sexist. I can't help it. Can I, Andrew?
And how am I not offended by THEM skipping past the actual content of the editorial page to just "look at the pictures."
Et tu, Kathleen.
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